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Home > Water Management > Water for the environment > Wetlands > Wetlands

Wetlands

The Microbes of NSW Wetlands

Definition
Different Types of Microbes
Where do they live?
Why are they important?
References and Further Reading

Definition

A microbe is any living organism that is too tiny to be seen with the naked eye. The term microbe is short for microorganism, which means small organism.

Different Types of Microbes

The microbial community of streams and wetlands includes protists, bacteria, fungi and some very tiny animals that are too small to be seen without the aid of a microscope.

Protists are organisms which are neither plant, animal, fungus or bacteria. Algae are protists, that is, they are members of the kingdom Protista. Algae can be microscopic or macroscopic. Most algae are microscopic.

For more information on the algae commonly found in wetlands please refer to "Algae" page of this site.

The bacteria of wetlands include both photosynthetic and anoxygenic bacteria. Anoxygenic bacteria are characterised by the fact that they do not produce oxygen as a by-product of photosynthesis. The Cyanoabacteria or blue-green algae, are an example of photosynthetic bacteria.

For more information on the blue-green algae commonly found in wetlands please refer to "Algae" page of this site.

Fungi resemble plants in appearance, but they are unable to produce their own food through photosythensis. They therefore feed on other organisms, like animals do.

The very tiny animals that are too small to be seen without the aid of a microscope are also commonly known as aquatic invertebrates.

For more information on the aquatic invertebrates that are commonly found in wetlands please refer to the "Aquatic Invertebrates" page of this site.

Where do they live?

Microbes live in a variety of habitats within wetlands. They live on submerged surfaces (e.g., rocks and snags), in the water that is held within wetland sediments and in the water column itself.

Why are they important?

Microbes are the natural recyclers of wetlands. Many microbes feed off other organisms and decaying organic matter (detritus). In doing so they break down plant and animal matter making it available for other animals to use. Those microbes that are unable to produce their own food, are called "heterotrophs" which means "other eating." There are still other microbes called methanogens that are able to survive even when there is no oxygen available.

In many wetlands, a large fraction of macronutrient flow is through the microbial loop. This loop recovers detrital carbon and other nutrients and injects them back into the food web. During this process a gas called hydrogen sulphide (otherwise known as rotten egg gas) and methane are produced. (Altavilla & Westhorpe, In Press). Dissolved organic carbon (DOC) is also assimilated into the microbial loop through heterotrophic bacterial production. (Altavilla & Westhorpe, In Press).

References and Further Reading

Key Reference Website - The Microbial Zoo

Altavilla, N. and D. Westhorpe (In Press). Method 11: Microbial sampling and analysis for river water, sediments and soils. In "Integrated Monitoring of Environmental Flows - Methods Manual". Edited by Bruce Chessman. Department of Land and Water Conservation, Sydney.

Battin, T.J. (1997). Assessment of flourescein diacetate hydrolysis as a measure of total esterase activity in natural stream sediment biofilms. The Science of the Total Environment. 198: 51-60.

Sinsabaugh, R.L., Findlay, S., Franchini, P. and Fischer, D. (1997). Enzymatic analysis of riverine bacterioplankton production. Limnology and Oceanography 42: 29-38.

Topp, E., Vallaeys, T. and Soulas, G. (1997). Pesticides: microbial degradation and effects on microorganisms, in Modern Soil Microbiology (eds J. Dirk van Ellis, J.T. Trevors and E.M.H. Wellington). Marcel Dekker, Inc.: New York.

Ward, A.K. and Johnson, M.D. (1996). Heterotrophic microorganisms, pp. 232-235 in Methods in Stream Ecology (eds F.R. Hauer and G San Diego.